my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

I picked up a 1973 crew cab for the wife. she cant stand my crew cab so its going to be a short bed 2wd or a 4wd. i really can not decide.

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Four wheel drive

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Cant wait to see more!

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

yea there is alot of short bed 2wd's maybe i could switch it up a little. So hows this

shortbed crew cab 4-6 inch lift, 3/4 ton axles with 4:56-488 gears th700r4 with a np241 91 suburban front clip, tbi 350 with a suburban tank under the bed. power windows and mirrors ?? factory paint scheme blues and greys or silvers with some additional pinstriping bucket front seats out of a 95-99 tahoe have to be wider seats im a big guy early style (73-79) center console. any more ideas ?????

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

here's more pics its not gonna be fun but ill have fun

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

make it look like it is now just with a short bed same colors and chrome truck with a 4 inch lift and some matching tires i think it would look killer

the 3/4 suspension and 350TBI seems like a good idea but i would keep it a round eye

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

I know where you can get a deal on a dana 60 front. Jay

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

i have a 79 crew cab with the round eye. my wife wants a newer front end like her 1991 suburban. i prefer the round eye too im goimg to look at a set of 3/4 ton axles for it right now

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

i have 2 dana 60 fronts single wheel but i dont need that bullet proof its going to be my wife's kid hauler

I got a parts 90 suburban
 

its my parts ride, a 1990 chevrolet suburban 4x4, minus the motor. im liking this project already...

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

pulled the rear doors for the crew cab and put the burban on a diet.... has anyone replaced the section of the dash where the new style radio goes out of a 89-91 burban and placed it in a earlier dash?

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Made it to pick in pull today got the door pull that was ripped on the drivers side and got the 1989 speedometer with the trip odometer awesome

the 4x4 conversion has been put on hold. im gonna get it running on the crew cab frame first so i can play with it a little. so its dropped spindles time and axle flip with a new bed and all the parts off the burban, traded a stock set of dually wheels for a set of 1995 chevy suburban seats. yes its comming together quite nicely.

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

right on
I'm in for the ride!!

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

cant wait to see it come together!

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Haven't got much done last weekend, it was my daughters birthday weekend and trick or treating got in the way. Looks like I need to take some time off work to get some work done on it. I traded a tilt column for a th400 for the dually portion of the build, and it looks like im trading the 73 doghouse.. front clip... whatever its called for a back seat and a good bed for the dually. just so no one is confused im building the dually to a driver while i collect the parts for the suburban frame shortbed frame build. My wife is getting excited finally.

more progress
 

got rear doors swapped out and the front fenders on it. I have a question? when swapping out the front clip i used to just weld a tab and cut a hole on the cowl to clear the hinges, is anyone doing anything different?

front doors on
 

i got the front doors on. This is only a test fit i still need to drill the holes for the power windows and locks. but its coming along

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Nice work!!
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Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

I'm digging that look with those aluminum rims!

keep us posted on your progress

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

its gotten slow my 6 year old came home with a flu and all of us have got it but shortly ill be back up and running.

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

get well soon....the build is looking really cool!

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Very nice build! That was a nice donor man. :lol: All the burbs I keep finding are trashed.

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

update....

i got a set of 3/4 ton axles for it a corperate 10 bolt 4:56 gears limited slip in front and a full float corperate 14 bolt with 4:56s and a posi. i just rebuilt the transmission 4l60 or th700r4 whatever its called. have the bearing kit for the np241c transfer case and i got a 84 short bed 4x4 frame with a 6 inch lift in a trade. so i guess some flattops and a 2wd steering box and a call to parts mike for steering arm and drag link for the crossover steering. now to the motor?? 350, 383, 454??? tbi 383? who has a 383 tbi motor? how does it run? what would you do different? come on some input? o yea the official cut date for the frame is march 1st thats when alot of pics will show up. o its all starting to come together. :metal:

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Coming along pretty nicely man! TBI's not a whole lot better than a well tuned carb would be all told... Why not drop in a late model LS truck motor - vast improvement in drivability as well as fuel mileage! Look forward to more pics either way!

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

nice...subscribed!

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Ant updates on this one?

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Update,

i have the two frames, they are at my shop they will be prepped to be cut and welded this weekend. work and family have made it hard for me to make any progress i finally found a short bed 4x4 truck in the paper for cheep, sold the tires and wheels of off it and scrapped the body to make my money back cheep. Finally in getting this show on the road...

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Here's the sb frame, and the burban frame. I've done some measuring and I know where its getting cut. My wife is even getting involved in the clean up. She made sure the new house we moved in to could fit the frame in the garage so she could help me work on it evenings after the kids went to sleep.

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Sweet! Always great when the wife helps!
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Update making progress
 

Finally more progress on this snail build. This has to be the busiest ive ever been when I started this build i was bored out of my mind. Anyhow heres the shortbed frame stripped ready for the MODIFICATION.... ive pulled all the lines and everything. The motor is a 290 hp 350 crate motor with 35000 miles and a gm replacement th700r4 with 35000 miles on it also. heck out the flowmaster exhaust that also came on it. Its keeping a carburetor for now I have a set of L31 Vortec heads screaming for a new home and all im looking for to make it good is the Vortec T.B.I intake manifold. back to the real deal. this prep work is taking for ever all parts removed have been glassbead blasted and wrapped for future paint,chrome, or power coating i haven't decited yet. My wife is still up in the air about what color, she mentioned baby blue i heard Marina Blue and white two tone. Let me know what you think.

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

awesome man keep up the good work!

Re: Update making progress
 

I think that's what she said, she just didn't know the techinal terms.:lol:

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Yep that is what i was thinking.....

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

well up date time, I got both frames prepped. The motor got swapped today and a set of not my 4:56 axles got put in today with rollers. both are marked and prepped for the cut. I know its taking forever but I'm only able to work on it one day a week from 8am to 3pm, but its well worth the wait. So Im understanding that a LS motor is the prefered. I'm gonna put a carbed motor in it and do the shake down run, 6-9 months of driving to "work out the bugs" then its going to be motor swap time. so heres some pics of the work today. look at the 2wd steering box, for crossover steering. the pickup frame got the rear axle and the burb frame got the front axle. i'm going to rebuild the axles and plan on doing a complete write up on the rebuild im going to go with 4:88 gears with 35's i think. but hopefully next sunday will be the weld it up time. Now lets go look for a np241 with a cable speedometer.

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

I would like some advice..... 5.9 cummings, duramax , 6.5 turbo diesel , or the 350 crate motor?

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Since its a 4wd I would go with the 6.5 TD

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Cummins 12 valve is the way to go. No computer to deal with, one million times more reliable and about the same amount of power potential. The 6.5 is OK, but doesnt hold a candle to the Cummins.

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

well today was the cut day. it was cut and welded today there is a fishplate to be added to each side and some minor clean up. there was a couple hurdles that had to be cleared but all in all I would do it again. Next is putting the blazer 30 gallon tank in the back of this frame. I plan on relocating the shocks to under the bed behind the axle. I'm going to smooth the frame rails where the shocks went.

Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Ok, so I'm confused. I'm planning on a Crew cab short bed dually, static drop & a supercharged 5.3. I thought I just shortened the frame 14 inches behind cab and 6 in back. So I don't understand the need to join the frames together. Also how do you make the dually short bed, since they never made one? Can you just take any 73-87 short bed and slap the dually fenders on there?
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Re: my sorta crew cab short bed build
 

Nice work! That's a nice Cutlass in the back round!